Drum



March 1, 1927. J. HWARD DRUM Filed April 9, 1923 w v 1 Jhuemn' 27%150/7! M1190 p teateafmar. ,1, 1927. p

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' JAMES H. WARD, or

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DRUM.

7 Application filed April 9,

invention relates to drums, particu-. larlyto snare drums,

and has for its object the provisionv of means for holding andad justlng the snares of drums and the applioationv of stress thereto directly across the 'e-head: of the drum, in a substantially Straight ling-without bending them near their ends into planes substantially at right angles to theheadof the drum as customary,theredrawing the snares more intimately into --contact; w 1th the center portion of-the head with amininium stress applied to them.

' jAnother object is to provide improved means, secured to the shell of the drum, for tensioning'and relaxing the snares.

,Afurther object is-to provide means for tensioning thesnares, on one side of the drurnend means, on the other side of the drum,.to relax-the snares, both means movable radially of the drum.

,further object of the invention is to remove the strain hoop from the path of the snares to permit its full inward movement and bridging the ends of the hoop by ameniber extending abovethe strain hoop toleave largeunobstructed openings thru which the snarespass Other-objects and advantages will readlly I appear to persons skilled in the art from a considerat on of the following description,

.. taken in conpinction with the drawings Fig. 2. 1 device shownlocated on the opposite forming a part snare releasing 7 line 22o f Fig. 3.

hereof, wherein Fig; 1 is a substanti lly central section thru a drum containing my invention.

. Fig. 2 isan enlarged sectional view of the device taken substantially on Fig.1 isa section; taken on line 33 of ,Fig- 4 is a section of the snare tensioning V Y side of the drum head in Fig. 1. y I

7 In all the views the same reference characters areempl'oyed to indicate similar parts.

A drumembodying myinvention is indi- 'catedj 5. 6 is the usual shell. 7 is the upper head. 8 isthe lower head. 9 is the usualskin hoop of which there are two, one

' drum heads,

of present interest.

. U f foreaclrhead. 10 is the'usual strain hoop, 50.

" 1 skin hoops. Means of which there are two, one foreach .of the for drawing the strain hoops towards each other, for tensioning the i are not shown, as they are not They may be of any of the known types. r 7

Snares 11 extend d ametrically across the 1923. Serial No. 639,975.

drum head 8 and terminates in substantially the same plane. They are tensioned by the device 12, shown in Fig. 4, located onone side of the drum and the snare releasing device 13 is for location on the opposite side of the drum. Each of these devices is secured to the shell 6 of the drum and they are movable radially of; the drum to tighten or to loosen the snares 11. i

The snare tensioning device 12 comprises a bracket 14 secured to the shell 6 by screws 15. It is provided with two outstanding spaced arms or. standards 16, and two arms 17 at right angles thereto. Between the arms 16 a two arm lever 18, similar to the lever 18 shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is pivoted. The snare engagingends of these arms 18 are each provided with a-housing 19jhaving.

perforated to uniformly space the snares.

A snare passes through'each perforation.

NVithin the housing 19 of, lever 18 is a snare clamping member 23 thru which screws 24 freely pass for threaded engagement with the cooperating threaded clamping mem-' ber 23.

The arms 18 are perforated to receive a rotatably loose cross member 26, thru which a thumb screw 27 loosely passes into a'similar cross member 28 threaded to receive the screw. The screw 27 carries a-collar 29 se-v cured thereto which abuts the cross member 26 when the screw 27 is turned to tighten the snares'in a perfectly obvious manner.

Between the arms 16 is an internally 12 and 13, whichfmay be separable from or a part of the arms or standards 16, and those in the arms 18 are caused to register, whereupon the thumb screws 31 are inserted in the spacing sleeve, thus pivoted lever 18 and enabling the parts to be quickly disconnected, so that the tensioning and releasing devices together with the drum head forming a pintle for the and strain hoop may be removed from the drum and replaced without disturbing the adjustment of the snares.

When the screw 27 is rotated to "tension thesnares the engaging end of the lever 18 is moved radially of the drum and the tension is applied to the snares directly in line with their axes.

- The device for quickly slacking the snares,

shown in detail in Figs. 2'and 3, has the same sort of lever 18 pivotedto the standards l6 byfscrews 3'1 entering the spacing sleeve '30: The cross member 26 serves as a roller for the cam 32, and the flanges 33 serve as guides for the cam A cam lever 34, which may be an integral part of the cam 32 is pivoted to and between arms 17 at the base of the cam by pivot pin The outward movement of lever 34 moves cam 32 from under roller 26 and releases the snares in a clearly obvious manner.

The honsin'g 19 of the releasing device contains "a series of aligning pins 36 grooved at their bottom ends to receive a snare 11. The lower ends of the pins are internally threaded, each to receive screw 37 each of Wl'fieh passes thru "an elongated slot 38;

Ascrew 39 passes transversely 'thru each oft-he pins 36 to laterally move the respective in is its slot, thereby to independently adjust each pair of snares. The pins are fixed in adjusted position by tightening the screws 37; p f

The strain hoop '10 is divided into two equal parts leaving a large space 40 between adjacent ends shown as equal in heightto'the height of the hoop. A bridging inember 4:1, s'ubstanti-ally U-shape, hav ing two legs 42 is secured 'to the adjacent ends ofthe' hoop parts, respectively.

Thespace 40 permits considerable latitude V of movement of the strain hoop 10 in adjusting' the ositi n of the skin hoop 9 withotit disturbing the snares and, further, more, the ends of the snares, with attached levers 1 8, may be passed thru theopening 4C0 in removing" the snares and snare opcrating means entirely from the other parts G n-1e drum.

While I have disclosed a single embodimerit of the invention for clearness of description, it manifest that considerable change may be made in the arrangement andcenfiguration' of the parts within the spirit andsc'ope of the appended claims.

I-Iaving "describedmy invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'i- 1. drum havingsn'ares extending across one head thereof; snare-engaging members secured a) the shell of the drum; a two-part strain hoop, the ends of which are spaced apart adjacent the snares and a pair of U-shaped snare bridging plates, one at each end of the snares,th'e majorportion thereof extending above the hoop and having the ends thereof "secu ed to adjacent ends of saidhoop parts to join the hoop parts together and to provide openings for the snares. c v j 2. Adrum having ashell; a head ext-end ing across eachend of the shelhsnares extending across one'end of the drum and said head; a pivoted snare'engaging means; a caih'lever fo'r'o'p'eratingsaid means movable substantially radially from the axis of the shell in a transverse plane with the axis of the shell to release the tension of the snares, and another snare-engaging means, on the opposite side of the drum, pivotally supported on the shell and movable sub- 4; A snare drum having snares extending across the head of the drum; a pair of pivoted snare-tensionrng means, one on each sld-e of the head,- a cam lever movable 1n substantially radial planes with respect to the axis of the drum to vary the tension of the snares and means carried by one ofsaid tensioning means to independently adjust each pair of snares;

5; A snare drum having a two-partstrain hoop at one end thereof, the ends of said hoop members spaced apart to permit snares to pass between said ends and the hoop to be removed without disturbing thesnares; bridging members joining the adjacent ends of the hoop and extending above the hoop; snares extending in a substantially transverse plane across the head of the drum, and members for tensioning' said snares, pivotally secured to the respective sides of the shell of the drum and movable substantially radially of said shell, and a cam lever to move'one of said snare engaging means.

6. In combination with a snare drum, a snare tensioning device comprising a bracket secured to the shell of'a drum; a cam lever substantially parallel with the axis of the drum pivoted at one end to the bracket, its other end having means for engaging snares of the drum and movable substantially radially of the drum and cam means pivoted on the bracket for moving the lever to tighten the snares.

7; In combination with a snare drum, a snare tensioning device comprising a bracket secured to the shell of a. drum; a cam lever, substantially parallel with the axis of the drum having one of its ends pivoted to the bracket, the free end movable substantially radially of the drum and having snare-engaging means; a cam pivoted on tliebracket for moving said lever outwardly and another lever, integral with the cam, for moving the same.

8. A snare engaging lever, for tensioning snares'ot a drum, having athree Wall housing formed on one end thereof; means in the housing for independently adjusting each pair of snares, passing thru one wall; means to lock "the snare adjusting means being perforated, thru whichperforations the snares pass to hold them uniformly separated.

9. A snare engaglng lever for tenslonlng Snares of a drum, having a three Wall housing;.a pin transversely movable therein to adjust the tension of the snares, there being onepin for each pair of snares; screws passing thru one, Wall, threaded thru the diameter of the respective pins and passing thru a Wall of the housing; screws threaded into the ends of the respective pins to lock them in adjusted position, and passing thru slots in another Wall of the housing, the third Wall being perforated to uniformly space the snares.

In testimony whereof I hereunto subscribe my name.

JAMES H. WARD. 

